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New Year’s Day’s most exciting finish had to be in Race 6 when D’Buffalo Man came with a late rush to get up in the shadows of the post.
Cliff Brown’s assistant-trainer Tim Fitzsimmons rated jockey Michael Rodd’s contribution in the four-way nail-biter as a “10 out of 10” ride, and not many would disagree with him.
The outermost alley made the task daunting, but Rodd allowed his mount to amble out before snagging him back onto the rails at the rear.
After gradually working their way up while scraping paint, Rodd soon had the Buffalo Man four-year-old in a striking position upon straightening, but without much galloping room around him.
However, the moment a gap opened up to their outside at the 200m, the Australian jockey took that option without a second of hesitation. Upfront, race-leader Siamese Cat (Mohd Firdaus) was doing his best work to hold O’What A Feeling (Matthew Kellady) at bay, but the stalemate was eventually broken when D’Buffalo Man surged through to deny the duelling duo, claiming Siamese Cat by a head.
The same margins split the runner-up from O’What A Feeling, as well as the latter from fourth-placed Zeus Warrior (Alan Munro). The winning time was 1min 22.96secs for the 1400m on the Short Course.
With Brown away on holidays, Fitzsimmons was on hand to lead in their first 2017 winner, hoping it would be the first of another successful season.
“It’s good to get the monkey off the back early especially after the great season we had,” said the Australian horseman in reference to their record five Group 1 wins in 2016, including three from Debt Collector.
“From that gate, D'Buffalo Man had to be ridden for luck and it’s worked out beautifully. It was a 10-out-of-10 ride from Michael.
“He’s a horse who’s got a lot of ability but we must always try to get him to settle. He’s still green and can run upside down at times.
“But putting the pacifiers on seems to have done the trick today, and that could be the key to him from now on.”
Rodd, who just returned from a successful short stint back from Brisbane, has certainly got that same winning touch flying again back at his Kranji base.
“We had a bit of luck today. He’s still got a bit of growing up to do, but he’s done a good job,” said the Australian rider.
“He’s a highly-strung horse and you’ve got to get him going in his races. He needs a fast pace and he put it together today.”
D’Buffalo Man was recording his third win from 16 starts for stakes earnings closing in on the $160,000 mark for the Buffalo Stable.